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I work in a K-8 school where Middle school is in the same building. Our middle schoolers, 7th and 8th graders have their own wing and follow a 9 period day. 7th graders are always excited about the topic of talking about school. It’s the first time they have multiple teachers and have to switch classes. They have a schedule to follow, etc. They have more freedom (although the pandemic has curtailed a lot of the experience!), they have to juggle different subjects throughout the day, different teacher personalities, they have to keep track on their schedule of the specials assigned in different trimesters, all of this lends itself to a unit that is rich in context and builds upon the previous units of describing personality traits and likes and dislikes.
I introduce vocabulary in a variety of ways, with pictures and personal questions, Pear Deck and Nearpod. Pear Deck and Nearpod are available as a Google Slides Add ons and I particularly like reviewing vocabulary with Pear Deck’s Flash Factory and Nearpod’s Matching and quiz features. I started creating my own digital mystery pictures this year and for this unit, my students complete this digital mystery picture I created using one of the characters of Among Us. My 7th graders love this game (8th graders too)! Gimkit had a version of Among Us called Trust No One, earlier this year, and it was a big hit! I believe they are bringing it back if they haven’t done so already. We also play Blooket. If you haven’t tried Blooket yet, you don’t know what you’re missing! Talk about engagement! I am asked by students if they can play every day. í
As they become more comfortable with the vocabulary of their classes and schedule, they work on these Google interactive slides to provide a comprehension-based activity in which they identify the vocabulary and fill out El Horario de Roberto. I then use El Dia desordenado de Roberto, a story I created where students have to fill in parts of the story based on the previous activity of filling out Roberto’s schedule. It’s a funny story about a boy that has a organization issue only to find out that the reason his day is disorganized is for a totally different reason. They really enjoy the twist and it prompts a lot of conversation!
To complement our unit, I am introducing them to their first reader. 8th graders have already used 3 readers but I had not found one that I liked enough to be able to seamlessly incorporate the topics we previously discussed in the 7th-grade class. As mentioned in previous posts, I am vibing with Flangoo I love that I don’t have to deal with a class set, especially now with the pandemic. No more, “I forgot my book or I lost it”. Students log in and there it is. It is the first time that I feel the readers are at or slightly above their level and complements my curriculum. The digital reader I am using with the 7th graders is Matemáticas y Messi, by Paula Carmadella Twomey and it is about a boy who doesn’t like to study and especially doesn’t like math. He should be friends with Roberto! There is so much I can do with this reader for this unit! 7th graders will be using subject pronouns, the present tense, recycling vocabulary learned for likes, dislikes, telling time, and so much more with this reader. Planning is still in its initial stages but I will share as I go along. Follow my Facebook page for updates on what I’m doing with with this reader.
If you are interested in any of the above resources here are the links:
I hope these ideas and resources are helpful to you. I hope that I can contribute and help in any way I can. We are all in this together. Let us support each other!
Hasta la próxima!
Find all my links here: https://linktr.ee/middleschoolsenora
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